Sidekicks

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Sidekicks is a 1992 film about a kid named Barry Gabrewski who has asthma. He has a lot of daydreams about being Chuck Norris' sidekick, the two of them battling against Norris' movie enemies who are often personified by Barry's school bullies. He lives with his father Jerry Gabrewski, a widower.

Barry is taught martial arts by an old Chinese man called Mr. Lee (Mako), the sly uncle of his teacher Ms. Noreen Chan (Julia Nickson-Soul). Mr. Lee decides to teach Barry some martial arts so that he can defend himself from the bullies, foremost among those being Randy Cellini. Barry later enters a tournament where he confronts his bullies and gets to fight alongside Chuck Norris after all.

Not to be confused with the comic Sidekick. or the 1974 movie starring Larry Hagman and Louis Gossett Jr.

Tropes used in Sidekicks include:
  • Alas, Poor Yorick: The literature teacher uses this quote to quiz Randy. He asks what the quote is from, and Randy replies, "It's from The Bible, isn't it?"
  • All Just a Dream: Barry's many, many daydreams about being in a Chuck Norris film fall into this.
  • Arch Enemy: For some reason, Stone has it in for Chuck Norris. It may be jealousy, or maybe he's just an overconfident jerkass who thinks Chuck's skills are overrated. Either way, Stone gets his ass handed to him in a match with Chuck during the karate tournament.
  • Brick Break: The final challenge in the karate tournament is for Barry to break NINE bricks.
    • Mr. Lee also douses them with lighter fluid and sets them on fire, saying, "this will help [you]." Why did the officials let him do that?
    • Because setting bricks on fire actually makes them easier to break.
      • Wouldn't that be more of a reason for the officials to not let him to it?
  • Captain Ersatz: A chunk of the plot is far too similar to the plot of The Karate Kid.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Chuck Norris joining Jerry in the karate tournament.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Barry basically says this when Danica talks to Barry about the other kids picking on him.
  • Drink Order

Chuck Norris: Bartender, make mine milk too.

Smoke. Smoking! SMOKING! I'M SMOKING! I'M SMOKING!

  • Embarrassing Nickname: Barry is given the nickname "Mr. Dumpling" by Mr. Lee. It doesn't seem so bad on its own, but keep in mind that Mr. Lee decided on this after rejecting other ideas like "Barry the Leopard" and "Barry the Tiger", and that the reason he named him "Mr. Dumpling" is because Barry kept getting hit by dumplings he tossed at him.
  • Follow the Leader: A film in the mold of The Karate Kid.
  • Hot For Teacher: This was probably unintentional, but Ms. Chan keeps appearing as a Damsel in Distress in Jerry's Chuck Norris fantasies. Thankfully, she is eventually replaced by his more age-appropriate crush, Lauren.
    • On the other hand his father seemed to genuinely like her.
  • Jerkass: Stone.
  • Kung Fu Kid
  • Magical Asian
  • Old Master: Possibly Mr. Lee, though in fairness, he doesn't look that old and his age is never given.
  • Sadist Teacher: PE Teacher
  • Self-Insert Fic: The protagonist never stops fantasizing about Chuck Norris (in one scene his thoughts of Chuck actually spurs him to climb the rope in PE class), Chuck himself is nearly unbeatable in the tournament and the villains in the movie highly dislike him.
  • Throwing Off the Disability: Subverted. Barry has asthma. He convinces himself that with enough willpower, he can beat an asthma attack on his own and throws away his inhaler. After a brief daydream involving him being in a torture session involving chains being tightened around his chest, we cut to him in the hospital.
  • Training Montage: Barry training with Mr. Lee.
  • What the Fu Are You Doing?: Mr. Lee has Barry training with nunchuku. While learning, Barry manages to nail himself in the groin and the head.
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